Mutations in EFHC1 cause juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

Toshimits Suzuki, Antonio Delgado-Escueta V, Kripamoy Aguan, Maria E. Alonso, Jun Shi, Yuji Haras, Motohiro Nishidas, Tomohiro Numata, Marco T. Medina, Tamaki Takeuchi, Ryoji Morita, Dongsheng Bai, Subramaniam Ganesh, Yoshihisa Sugimoto, Johji Inazawa, Julia N. Bailey, Adriana Ochoa, Aurelio Jara-Prado, Astrid Rasmussen, Jaime Ramos-PeekSergio Cordova, Francisco Rubio-Donnadieu, Yushi Inoue, Makiko Osawa, Sunao Kaneko, Hirokazu Oguni, Yasuo Mori, Kazuhiro Yamakawa

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

285 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is the most frequent cause of hereditary grand mal seizures1,2. We previously mapped and narrowed a region associated with JME on chromosome 6p12-p11 (EJM1)3-5. Here, we describe a new gene in this region, EFHC1, which encodes a protein with an EF-hand motif. Mutation analyses identified five missense mutations in EFHC1 that cosegregated with epilepsy or EEG polyspike wave in affected members of six unrelated families with JME and did not occur in 382 control individuals. Overexpression of EFHC1 in mouse hippocampal primary culture neurons induced apoptosis that was significantly lowered by the mutations. Apoptosis was specifically suppressed by SNX-482, an antagonist of R-type voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel (Cav2.3). EFHC1 and Cav2.3 immunomaterials overlapped in mouse brain, and EFHC1 coimmunoprecipitated with the Cav2.3 C terminus. In patch-clamp analysis, EFHC1 specifically increased R-type Ca2+ currents that were reversed by the mutations associated with JME.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)842-849
Number of pages8
JournalNature genetics
Volume36
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2004
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Genetics

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